My fist tour was in 2016. Four months before my 50th birthday. I rode solo from Sebastopol, CA (north of the Bay area), down the Central Valley, up over Yosemite, Tioga Pass, down to Lee Vining, south on the 395, across Death Valley, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, St George UT, Zion NP and finished at the north rim on the grand canyon. I like in rural New England, so it was like begin on another planet. Especially Death Valley. It was Sept/Oct and still over 100 degrees. I loved every second of it!
I've done two similar-length tours since, including returning to Death Valley in 100+ degree heat to ride down the basin and through the Mojave to Joshua Tree before turning eat to Flagstaff.
Here I am at Zabriskie Point on October 2nd, 2016:
